Everything You Wanted
by H. R. Beck
Summary: Supposing Sarah didn't say the right words in her final confrontation with the Goblin King and actually failed in her quest to save both her and her baby brother from the Labyrinth's hold. In response to several Cliche challenges.
1. Of Brain Blunders and Biting Faeries

Sarah Williams had finally done it. She had found the courage to take the final leap of faith required to effectively break apart the Goblin King's Escher Room illusion and draw him out so that she could confront him on a more even plain. Now Sarah found herself standing at the center of a sandstone platform with only the remnants of a few broken stone archways floating in suspension around her. The air was thick and heavy with what passed for sky being streaked with violet and purple hues against an inky black backdrop.

Directly ahead of her stood another stone archway with its inner space cast in shadow. As Sarah Williams stared into the blackness she witnessed the Goblin King slowly emerge ominously from the shadowy depths with a look of ragged determination set like stone on his features. He was dressed in the tattered colors of the barn owl and looked somewhat depleted. For a second the adversaries stared each other down before Sarah finally stated her final demand.

"Give me the child."

Jareth set his stance stopping a few feet from her and seemed almost impressed by her apparent diligence. Finally he advanced upon her though not as directly as his usual custom demanded.

"Sarah, beware. I have been generous up till now, but I can be cruel." He warned her flatly.

Sarah had the urge to scoff at this remark.

"Generous." Sarah briefly cocked her head to the side. "What have you done that's generous?"

"Everything!" He replied with forceful indignation. Jareth began to walk around her as he prepared to present his evidence. "Everything that you wanted, I have done."

Sarah half turned as she followed Jareth's accusing gaze while he circled her.

"You asked that the child be taken...And I took him. You coward before me, I was frightening. I have re-ordered time. I have turned the world up-side down and I have done it all...For YOU. I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me. Isn't that generous?" He inquired of her.

For a moment Sarah was taken aback and as she quickly considered each charge she could find no mistruth in them. Jareth had done all of those things. He had become everything she expected him to be and now it occurred to Sarah that perhaps even the Goblin King might be something different than what he seemed to be. Was he just one more something that she had taken for granted? Yet this did not alter the cause of her mission. The fact still remained that the Goblin King had taken possession of her baby brother and that Sarah was attempting to win him back. Nothing else mattered. This was part of her destiny.

"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered. I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City." Sarah began to advance upon Jareth forcing the worn looking Goblin King to retreat several steps.

Jareth was not ready to forfeit yet. He simply needed to buy more time for the enchantment to run its final course.

"For my will is as strong as yours..."

"Stop. Wait." Jareth abruptly interrupted her in mid-sentence putting up his hand between them in an effort to stay her. There was a chance Jareth could still reason with her. Offer her a fair trade in exchange for what he wanted most from her.

"Look, Sarah. Look at what I'm offering you." He said imploringly.

On his other hand a crystal manifested at the tips of the Goblin King's fingers that he then held out for her to observe. "Your dreams."

Yet something in Jareth's expression betrayed him ever so slightly damaging the genuineness of his words as he engaged her in their battle of wills and Sarah was encouraged to continue on her course caught up in obtuse concentration as she felt her own power grow and surge.

Again she began her advance forcing the Goblin King to retreat even farther. "And my Kingdom as great..."

Jareth was losing ground quickly. He needed to shift the stakes...He needed to make Sarah sympathize with him. So for lack of better option he began to explain the true nature of his terms and the opportunity they presented.

"I ask for so little. Just let me rule you and you can have everything that you want." He said persuasively with just a tinge of desperation.

As Sarah started to turn away from him, Jareth began to feel genuinely afraid that she might actually say the words that had the power to strike him from her thoughts and banish him forever from her life. The time was so close at hand, though only Jareth knew for sure how many grains of time remained.

Meanwhile Sarah was struggling to find the right words. "My Kingdom is as great...Damn! I can never remember that line."

As Sarah thrashed Jareth saw the weakness of her strength begin to seed and take root and the realization brought him an acute sense of satisfaction that was almost admiring of her in its expression. He was gaining back his ground. If he could only keep her distracted...

"Just fear me." He Implored her. "Love me. Do as I say...And I will be your slave."

"My Kingdom is great...My Kingdom is great..." Sarah continued to search for the right words, her eyes growing wide with the effort. Finally awareness seemed to take hold of her as she slowly looked back into the Goblin King's face.

The moment of truth was upon them and Jareth inwardly steeled himself for the potential outcome. Her eyes were still so much like those of a child. Large and glossy almost like a doll's but full of life and secret knowing.

"I...I can't remember the right words...I..." As she faltered in this pivotal moment somewhere a clock began to sound the hour with a deep resonating gonging and as it sounded the Goblin King began to vindictively and triumphantly laugh just as deeply.

The sinking feeling of dread that came upon Sarah Williams then was poignant and devastating and the atmosphere surrounding them lifted as the violet hues shifted to red and the inky blackness faded and dissipated into white. Jareth stepped closer to Sarah now as she began to process her own failings and realize the truth of her fate.

"But...No." She protested.

Jareth placed a hand on either side of her shoulders and gripped her upper arms in his hands kneading the flesh beneath her shirt firmly with the padding of his thumbs as he tugged Sarah into an embrace causing her to press her nose into his chest.

"You...You have no power over me." The words finally came to her now and were spoken meekly.

As Jareth spoke the tattered garb of the barn owl seemed to fade leaving the billowy white cotton and tan breaches he had once appeared to her in, shifting in its place. It seemed the Goblin King's vitality had returned to him. In a strange act of something that might have passed for compassion, the Goblin King stroked the back of Sarah's hair. "Im glad you finally realize that though it doesn't change anything. You and your bother are now one of us."

"Shut up...Shut up! You're a liar and a cheat! I said the right words! I said them! I want my brother back and I want to go home. I know you have the power Goblin King!" Sarah said viciously her hands forming into fists as she pounded against Jareth's chest and jerked herself out of his embrace with a spin.

Jareth's jaw set and he took one menacing step toward the teenager and pointed. "What is done is done. The stakes and terms of our bargain were clearly set. You chose to run my Labyrinth, Sarah. You chose when you could have just as easily accepted my boon in exchange for your brother instead. Don't forget that you were the one who asked for him to be taken away from you. You should know by now that there are consequences for the things you say and what you do. You can't escape it. None of us can. How dare you presume to be so unique."

"You don't know me, Goblin King. Not anything about me." Sarah exclaimed, venomously taking her own step forward.

"I know your dreams. How else could I offer them to you? How else could I do everything I have done? It is YOU who doesn't know anything about ME. But you will, Sarah. Mark me when I say that you will. Jareth sighed and inspite of his returned vitality he pinched the bridge of his nose almost as if out if exasperation and shut his eyes. "Now. Today is a new day and I've grown tired of this line of conversation and of dealing with you. You may do as you please from here on out and go where you please. I have not the desire or the time to attend to you, but I have no doubt that others might; so you should have no reason to be unhappy now."

Jareth smiled when he finally brought himself to look once more upon the disgruntled teenager who would have liked nothing better just then than to ring his throat right about then. The thought was sobering and finally Jareth gave a mocking bow and stepped away from her chuckling to himself.

"Welcome to the Underground and to the Goblin Kingdom, Sarah. Welcome home." Jareth said before making a ticking sound.

By now Sarah was pacing back and forth and muttering any number of obscenities and when she finally brought herself to look up so that she could make a face at his final remarks, all she could perceive was the feeling of fluttering bird wings in her face and the omnipresent words of the Goblin King clicking his tongue at here.

"Such a pity." Was the last thing she heard him say after he'd visually disappeared.

Left on her own and still fuming Sarah threw a highly juvenile tantrum hopping about and yelling things like…"After everything he put me through"…and "It's not fair!"…Oh how quickly some lessons were forgotten at times.

Eventually Sarah did finally calm down enough to really look around and see where she was. Apparently, like everything else, the sandstone platform had disappeared and Sarah once again found herself exactly where she'd started upon the sandy hill over-looking the great maze proper during the start of her original journey. Jareth had stuck her back at the beginning, how very annoyingly appropriate, and last she knew her friends were still waiting for her in the Goblin City or so she had to believe.

What exactly was she supposed to do now? If Jareth wasn't lying about her being part of the Underground and the Labyrinth's reality than she might as well have been dropped headlong into a foreign country, only this was much worse because it involved magic and a place that supported fairy tale things that were everything and nothing she understood them to be. Sarah was half tempted to simply break down and cry but the entire concept seemed a waste of her time.

"God, I wish Hoggle were here. He'd know what to do." Sarah wrapped her arms around her shoulders to protect her body against the wind.

It was strange because when she'd first arrived in the Underground everything seemed to be caught in a kind of suspended animation with the obvious exceptions of the creatures she'd met along the way. But now her surroundings had come to life and there seemed to be no short supply of moving air, indigenous sounds, strange and exotic smells and odd sensations. Frankly Sarah felt a slight chill threatening and it was hard to know the right course to take.

"I can't believe that jerk is just going to _leave_ me out here to fend for myself! So much for this entire nightmare following the plot of the play." Sarah observed referring to how in the story book the Goblin King had done everything to the maiden out of love for her.

The more Sarah contemplated her options the more it seemed like she had no other alternative but to make her way down the bluff towards the outer garden and pray that in the time that had lapsed Hoggle or one of her other companions had caught on that something was amiss and had come looking for her. She was almost convinced that Hoggle would be on to Jareth's antics and have the good sense to come back to his regular haunts to look for her, but as she shuffled her way down the hill towards the outer gates her hopes began to steadily diminish. Hoggle was unfortunately nowhere to be seen but at least the dried and scummy looking fountains had started up again even if the water still resembled a putrid swamp. Sarah hurried past the various garden statues and made an effort to remember how she'd gotten into the Labyrinth in the first place.

For a second Sarah hesitated. Did she really want to go back in there? And if not where else was there really to go? But to sum things up similarly to the way Hoggle once had…What other choice did she really have?

"Guhr. I hate this Labyrinth. Where's that damn door again…" As Sarah began to retrace her steps along the outer wall where there were still the left over bodily remains of several biting fairies sprinkled about the glittery ground, some of the remaining living faeries began to take notice of the pissed off teenager and began to investigate her.

At first it was just one or two hovering in an annoying fashion about her hair and face occasionally trying to pluck at her eyelashes or yank out a stray strand of hair. But after a while two quickly evolved into three and three into six until eventually Sarah was trying to deflect a small little horde of the vivacious little shits all trying to dive bomb her at rotating intervals graciously of course and with sweet little smiles on their faces.

"God damn it, knock it off! I don't have time for this!" Sarah protested protectively trying to deflect the buggers away from her by swatting at a few of them.

Unfortunately all this seemed to accomplish was to anger the creatures causing them to swarm more and before she knew what was happening a whole slew if biting faeries we're attempting to lift Sarah off the ground by individual bunches of her hair and it was all the girl could do but to screech and flail about trying to get them to release her.

Now as it happened, Sarah Williams wasn't the only human having a frustrating day in or around the great maze nor was she the only human roaming about as well.

In fact while Sarah and Jareth had been hashing out the final details of their confrontation on the great bluff overlooking the Labyrinth, a gypsy healer by the name of Ramona had been wandering about the stone and hedge maze walls brimming with much vexation of her own.

Unlike Goblins and dwarves, the humans of the Labyrinth did not, with the exception of Jareth who knew and saw all, have an internal instinct that allowed them to seemingly understand the magical shifting patterns of the maze walls and traps so even if you were highly experience at getting around there was still a strong possibility that one would either get lost and completely lose their bearings or have something unhappy happen to them.

Ramona in particular did not have any talent when it came to maneuvering through the Labyrinth which was precisely the reason she preferred to stay close to her home near, but blissfully upwind, if the bog. Ramona only venturing out of doors when it was absolutely necessary or when her supplies were running low. Beyond this though she was a fair good healer and even had a rudimentary understanding of magic (one almost had to when they lived in the enchanted forest) though she claimed to stay away from the stuff whenever possible. Generally Ramona also rarely ventured so close to the outer walls of the Labyrinth but unfortunately her present list of ingredients she needed to restock had to do with the powdered wings of biting faeries which were a native species in the Labyrinth that happened to only build their nests at certain elevation points unique to areas of the stone maze and outer walls.

Often times Ramona could trade the grounds keeping dwarf Hoggle for the fairy wings which he tended to remove post mortem with some disturbing amount of delight, but by then the wings had more or less lost their potency in transit; and besides that their purity was often compromised by the pesticide Hoggle used to control them with. Furthermore Ramona tended to trade with Hoggle using various pretty baubles and bits that came into her possession often as payment for her healing services and lately business hadn't been the best.

In order to compensate for her poor sense of direction, Ramona had gotten into the habit of carrying a durable wooden ladder with her whenever she had to travel a considerable distance and whenever she needed to check her progress in getting where she wanted to go. This was so that whenever she happened to feel in doubt, which was considerably more often than the red head would have liked, Ramona could slap her wooden ladder up against the side of a wall or a statue and climb on up so that she could peer over the top of the maze and get an idea of her progress.

A new morning had begun in the Labyrinth and it just so happened that Ramona had set out well before sun up as it took her nearly half the day to get to the outer wall if she left any later. This time around she'd actually hoped to get back home by the mid-day but the likelihood of that outcome was still unknown. At the time Ramona slapped her ladder up against a particularly barren part of the stone maze strewn with dead wood. This was a point of observation that seemed unusual when one considered there were no trees, dead or otherwise, in the vicinity to explain their presence.

At that particular time Jareth had just made his exit leaving behind a disgruntled teenager and Sarah had just finished making her way down the bluff when Ramona poked her flaming red haired head over the Labyrinth wall.

Given that the woman rarely saw other humans around, Ramona's eyes was naturally drawn to the pretty young brunette, whom wasn't the most pretty just then, and preceded to quietly observe Sarah Williams mutter and cuss her way around the outer entrance which Ramona could see very clearly from her vantage point. Ultimately though the red head weirdly lost interest after a while and began to retreat back down her ladder without comment and for a moment it appeared as if the humans would completely miss their opportunity to interface with each other.

Of course, thit was the case up until Sarah made the mistake of pissing off some of the biting faeries that were bothering her by swatting at them. The consequences of this resulted in a good portion of one of the faerie nests viciously molesting her at once. Hearing the sudden commotion, the red head immediately hurried back up the ladder to investigate and this time the sight was well worth the effort.

When Ramona peered over the wall and looked directly below her she was just in time to see a petrified Sarah Williams rolling about in the sandy dirt trying to ward off a slew of faeries who were in the middle of ratting up her hair so badly that if someone didn't intervene soon Sarah would have to practically shave her head in order to get the matted snarls out.

"Hey!" Ramona shouted abruptly at the whole lot of them. "What do you think you're doing?"

It was a general question and asked in a somewhat combative way.

Ramona's timing was impeccable because just as she was calling everyone to attention those damnable faeries had teamed up with one another and managed to find a rather large rock which was mere seconds away from being dropping over the still sputtering Sarah Williams head. It was an ominous threat which would have surely wreaked her beyond all help. Instead, the biting faeries were so startled by the sudden interruption that they accidentally dropped the boulder too soon in a lapse of concentration causing it to narrowly miss anything of Sarah's that was vital by a number of inches.

Realizing that someone was coming to her rescue Sarah tried to glare up at the direction of the feminine voice while still trying to ward off the rest of the unsavory insect like creatures.

"For God's sake get them off of me!" She managed; more as an automatic response born out of desperation than anything.

Sarah squinted up at the new arrival with a mixture of surprise, awe, and avarice. She was certain she'd never seen anything like the woman before; with her curly head of fiery red hair and a thick multi-colored multi-layered patchwork skirt of a gypsy out of some kind of fairy tale. For a brief moment she appeared as something almost ethereal in the early morning light; with her red hair glinting off the low rising sun like a siren.

Ramona's eyes widened in surprise at Sarah's lack of manners completely ignoring the circumstances of the present situation. Who did This girl-child think she was speaking to her like that? As if Ramona didn't have enough crap to deal with when treating goblins with stubbed toes and trying to explain the bonuses of pre-natal vitamins to intellectually aware barn yard animals every other day…now THIS girl was making impolite demands before they'd been properly introduces and was taking the good Lord's name in vain on top of it. And for what? It wasn't as if Mona was obligated to do anything about her predicament. For all she knew Sarah was simply getting her just desserts for some fairy related offense. Sometimes immortality did weird things to people's brains particularly if it wasn't natural to their origins.

"Oh yeah? How about throwing in a please and thank you the next time you want help from someone…And _don't_ take the lord's name in vain like that!" Mona replied sharply at a yell placing her hands on both hips as she narrowed her eyes at the still squirming raven haired girl.

"Please…Whatever you want. Just get them off of me…They're hurting." Sarah whined.

A few moments later a rumbling could be heard as a very indignant red head ungraciously talked her way through the front gates leading out of the Labyrinth proper. Once the gates had promptly opened for her Mona picked up her basket and ladder and stomped through the entrance muttering a mild 'thank you' as the gates quietly closed behind her. Mona then proceeded to set her ladder against the nearest wall as she picked her basket up once more, pulled her trusty giant wooden spoon from her belt and started swatting in single elegant strokes at Sarah's assailents wrapping the faeries one by one on their head and, as they fluttered stunned to the ground, muttered "Good, Matilida" every time she successfully hit one home.

When the task was done and Sarah was successfully liberated from her tiny attackers, the red head began the process of swooping up the stunned faeries and one by one ripped their little transparent and powdery wings off without so much as a twitch as she tossed each one into a nearby scummy fountain or scraggly bush. When she caught Sarah giving her a horrified expression at the seeming brutality of this the gypsy narrowed her eyes at the girl who really should have looked more appreciative.

"What's that look for? Oh. Them? Don't worry about it. Those little tramps can swim, climb, and scavenge for themselves just fine without their wings. They'll climb back up into their respective nests and sulk until a new set grows back in. My Raymond used to love watch the little miscreants fuss. " Ramona gave an indignant sniff before securing _Matilda_ back into the space at her belt.

Her hands once again came to rest upon her hips as Ramona eyeballed Sarah suspiciously. "So huh, what exactly _**were**_ you doing there a second ago with that big heavy looking rock hovering over your head? Not trying to do something funny now are you?"

At first Ramona's question regarding the rock was lost on Sarah, as she was too busy staring at the redhead like one might a rather eccentrically shaped piece of shrubbery or even a particularly strange breed of animal. Matilda? Did this woman just refer to the huge baseball bat sized spoon her belt as Matilda? Sarah's brows went from furrowed, to raised, and then back to furrowed again. And who the hell was Raymond?

"N…No! I mean of course not. I…I was just trying to get back into the Labyrinth. I need to find some people and I also need to smack a certain Goblin King right in the kisser when I get the chance. See Jareth is holding my baby brother captive in that castle and dumped me here against my will. I don't belong in this place! Please Miss, can you maybe help me because I'm not sure how much more of this I can take. I don't even want to think about what's going on back home. Dad and Karen must be going out of their mind by now."

"Uh huh." Ramona looked as if she didn't quite believe or understand Sarah. Then suddenly as if a dime that had been standing on its edge finally turned over...Ramona suddenly exhaled a huffy breath and dropped her hands from her sides. "Well! In THAT case...You're going about it all wrong!"

"Wait…What?" Sarah asked in confusion still sitting on the ground.

"If you were fool enough to strike up a bargain with that hunk-a-hunk Goblin King up in that castle at the center of the Goblin City than your just gunna have to accept the logical consequences that come with the territory. Jareth is a lot of things…But he's mostly honorable and when he's not there's usually a reason for it that's bigger than he is…Which I bet is blissfully hard to find." Ramona added suggestively. "If you want something from that magic man than the first thing to do is to get mart about it and find something to give him that's of equal or greater value capered to what you want in return. Find out what his pleasure is and use it against him as leverage. He'll give you what you're after. I guarantee it."

Ramona offered Sarah her hand and then tugged her onto her feet.

"Um…Right. Excuse me, Miss? But huh who are you and how do you know that?" Sarah asked with some skepticism.

"You can call me Mona. Best cook-n-clean, interspecies mid-wife, goblin-wrangler, window washer extraordinaire this side of the Underground. And I know because I cooked and cleaned in that castle for a good fifteen years. The King and I…We go way back. That's how I know what he's up to." Ramona said with wink and a flick of her chin.

"Now you're a pretty young thing and judging from the looks of those strange cloths you're well out of your element here. So I suggest that for the time being you come along with me until you can locate some other friends or find some better sense. It's not wise to go wondering round this maze and whatnot when you're considered a local." The red head added. "Meanwhile, you can take out your revenge on some of those biting faeries while you're at it. I aim to powder me a hell of a lot of wings tonight."


	2. Babes and Baskets

"Grrrwah. Out of meh way!" Shrieked an angry Hoggle a short time after the Goblin King had finally returned to the castle.

There was a bit of protesting commotion and the sound of goblins yelling, Ludo rumbling, and some objects being thrown around before Hoggle with Ludo and Sir Didymus in tow came bursting loudly through the large wooden doors leading into the goblin castle's main banquet hall and enthroning area. The room was large, drafty and mostly void of any furniture, hangings, or people with the exception of the Goblin King himself who was sitting near the far wall of the room apparently asleep in a high backed but simply crafted throne chair on a low stone dais.

Growling some more and in a rare state of anger that caused any sense of fear to go right out the proverbial window Hoggle hurried his way into the hall with purpose pointing one grubby finger in Jareth's general direction as he went. The other two followed but at a considerable distance behind and didn't look nearly as confident as their companion did.

"Damn yous, Jareth! I wants to have a word with yooooou!" The dwarf bellowed through clenched teeth when he was finally about two thirds of the way into the space.

At first Jareth seemed not to hear any of it as he continued to sit with one ankle propped over his knee with the side of his head resting on one black gloved fist while he remained in repose.

"You wake up you goblin bastard and talk to me!" The dwarf screeched halting in a tense manner just before the single step of the dais.

Finally after another few seconds the slits of Jareth's eyes opened slightly to look darkly upon the groundskeeper for disturbing him. "WHAT do you WANT. If you haven't noticed I have had a most trying evening and am_**TRYING**__** to **__**SLEEP**_."

"What did you do with her, Jareth?" Hoggle demanded in a very low almost murderous tone.

"What do you THINK I did with her, you moron!" Jareth boomed coming to full attention in his chair. "I put her back at the beginning where she belongs."

"You better not have done nothing to that little lady, Jar…" Hoggle started to threaten.

"Or what? What is a putrid ugly little worm like you going to do about it? Hm? And furthermore what did you honestly think I was going to do, bring her here? Come now, Hoghead. Give me some credit. Unlike you, I haven't begun to lose my head over that wretched defiant creature of a girl nor would anything ever compel me to do so. And what are THEY doing in here?" Jereth said in a fluid fast manner before he growled pointed first at Sir Didymus and then at Ludo.

"You there, Knight. Why aren't you back at your post now that the fighting in the Goblin City is over? And why is my yeti not roaming the maze where he belongs?" Jareth demanded to know with no short supply of malice.

"We…We were only concerned for the lady, M'lord." Sir Didymus muttered weakly as he stepped up beside Hoggle who was still fuming mad. "She's a might young to be left to her own and we wanted to ensure no harm was to come down upon the lady."

"Why is it that everyone somehow thinks this girl-child should somehow be exempt of any hardship? The girl must learn to fend for herself here just like everyone else and anyway I have it on good authority that the gypsy Ramona has happened upon her so her safety is well in hand such as can be provided. Ramona will teach her far better than any of you could about the inherent dangers of the Labyrinth and how to avoid them. As for you, Hoggle. I have an important task for you that is far more pressing." Jareth said retuning his gaze back onto the dwarf.

"You're a terrible bully of a man, Jareth. What makes you think I wants anything to do with you? I might be a lot er things but I ain't your slave." The dwarf muttered indignantly.

Jareth leaned forward in his chair so that he was practically on top of the shorter man and narrowed his eyes in a dangerous fashion.

"No. You are not my slave, Hoggle. But you are my servant and you will do this one thing for me or I will not hesitate to bring my full wrath down upon you and put you completely out of your misery." Jareth threatened in a cutting swift manner.

At this statement the dwarf's eyes widened and much of his anger instantly drained out of him and was filled back in by acute alarm as if Jareth had openly struck him. Jareth had always been the confrontational type and right scary to the dwarf at times but he'd never actually threatened Hoggle's life outright before. Even Didymus looked abashed with shock and Hoggle had to kick him lightly sidelong to get the fox to close his mouth.

"Wha…wha…What do you want of me?" Hoggle asked with a sinking feeling overtaking him.

"In a short time from now you are to leave this place. I want you to take possession of the babe-child and bring him into the Craglands where I have set up provisions for you. He is to stay there with you until such a time when I have a need to call you back." Jareth explained.

"Guh. Bu…The Labyrinth is my home. I don't know nuth'n bout raising no babies and certainly not a human one at that!" Hoggle protested.

"As I've already TOLD you, Hoghead. I have seen to providing you with provisions and reasonable assistance. I will not have that human child raised here in the Goblin Kingdom. It's hardly a fit place for most adult humans let alone a defenseless babe. You will do this for me, Hoggle. That's an order. Be ready to depart at the break of the long hour and as for you other two… _**Get back to where you belong!**_ _**I will not have my Goblin City compromised!**__"_ Jareth barked.

As Jareth finished giving these orders somewhere seemingly nearby within the castle a baby began to cry. The sound carried and was clear as day though high up sounding. Having been forced to lose his temper at the mismatched little group in front of him Jareth leaned back and settled himself though it was clear that he was acutely listening to Toby Williams crying. They all were.

After a few seconds of this, Jareth focused his attention back on the others. "All of you. Get out."

Several minutes later after Hoggle and the others had been forcibly escorted from his presence so that he was once again completely alone, Jareth had risen and walked to the side of the room where he stood before a small stone archway meant for a single person to pass through. Although he looked fully vitalized the truth was that Jareth really was quite exhausted from the overall confrontations of the last twenty-six hours. The Labyrinth itself had its own natural enchantments, secrets, and fail safes so in terms of Sarah actually running the Labyrinth Jareth generally had to do little else but watch her progress and occasionally make adjustments to the odds or insurance of her physical safety. Almost every bit of help that she'd gotten with the exception of some of Hoggle's deeds had been managed by the Goblin King by way of his various agents sprinkled at key points through her journey. It was imperative that Jareth make Sarah's initial experience with the Labyrinth seem as genuinely real and threatening as possible. And thankfully his objectives had been achieved.

There had been other aspects of their confrontation that had taken a direct toll on Jareth's personal abilities however, such as the fabrication of the Escher Room or the poisoned peach which had damn near almost resulted in his own undoing. Furthermore as Sarah's time in the Labyrinth had gone on she'd unknowingly begun to tap into her own strengths which in the grand scheme rivaled his own. Not to mention that the goblins themselves could be tiring when it came to trying to organize them in mass and the battle in the Goblin City had not gone off as well as Jareth would have liked mostly because he'd allowed himself to become distracted.

But as tired as he was Jareth couldn't rest yet, he needed Toby Williams out of the Kingdom and hadn't been exaggerating about his worry for the infants general safety. Beside if Sarah Williams tried to retrieve her brother again, Jareth didn't want to risk her calling him out on the matter of the babe but if the child wasn't in the Kingdom then Sarah couldn't include him in her personal grievances because Jareth hands would more or less be tied.

With a fortifying sigh, Jareth focused his attention fully on the shadowy archway and then waved one gloved hand in front of it. Although nothing unusual seemed to happen, anyone who would have been standing in the room would have felt the hair on their skin stand on end; a sure fire indication that something magical had just occurred if quietly. Jareth then stood back, adjusted his shoulders, and walked through the archway.

Had anyone tried to follow that hadn't been intentionally invited they would have found themselves simply in another long corridor sprinkled with an occasional goblin guard and the Goblin King would have been nowhere to be found.

As for the Goblin King's actual whereabouts, the castle might as well have disappeared all together because although the Goblin King had walked through on open archway his gloved hand seemed to now be turning a rather common and modern looking doorknob of a rather common and modern looking bedroom door. Indeed, for all intents and purposes one would have almost suspected that Jareth had actually returned the infant child back to the very crib he had been snatched from because as the sound of a crying baby suddenly came into focus and an out of place looking Jareth stepped into what looked like the Williams' bedroom Jareth shut the door behind him and smiled softly at the crying Toby who was presently standing at the side of what looked like his crib wailing at the Goblin King.

Jareth seemed unconcerned by the sound and like any compassionate person calmly came to the baby and with a kindly cooing sound picked the babe up and adjusted him in his arms in a delighted fashion. "Oh there there now. I can hear you. You certainly are a strong lunged little chap. It"ll serve you one day, I can promise that."

Jareth smiled in a pleased manner and bounced and rocked Toby in his arms. This seemed to calm the babe and certainly Jareth's confident and gentle demeanor greatly helped matters. But Toby wasn't completely satisfied and still fussed making typical baby sounds that showed he wanted specific attention.

To Jareth, Toby might as well have been having an intellectual conversation with him about the business.

"What? Oh yes, I quite understand. You want a change and a warm bottle. I'm sure I can arrange for that if you'll be so kind to sit for a minute. How about a different outfit? Though I must agree that red stripes are most becoming on you." Jareth said and then smiled.

A few minutes later, Jareth had made good on everything the infant needed and had changed and dressed him personally in a solid red onesie. Now Jareth had retired to the rocking chair and was in the middle of feeding Toby a warmed battle which he had manifested from one of his crystals. Since Toby was too busy eating to bother with anything else just then, Jareth could take some time to quietly think to himself as they rocked together.

What Jareth was doing was risky and apart of him was not particularly happy about the business that he was reflecting upon. Indeed, part of him would have much preferred to raise the child himself in a proper kind of setting that children deserved to be raised in where he could keep an eye on things directly.

Jareth knew that once the infant left the confines of the Goblin Kingdom, he would no longer have consistent access to him and the idea was troubling to the Goblin King. But the reality remained that even Jareth had logical limitations that were natural to both his situation and his magical disposition and personal curcimstances. There was simply no avoiding that outside of the Labyrinth's powerful boundries he was nothing more than a highly accomplished magician and at any rate there was no way to care for Toby himself without reneging on his other obligation connected with the proper governing of the Goblin Kingdom and the Labyrinth itself.

Hoggle's stewardship would have to be enough along with Murielle's guidance and womanly experience in child rearing. Deep down Jareth knew he was doing the right thing by sending Toby to his friend; and besides, Jareth had other reasons to keep Hoggle and Sarah separated.

The dwarf knew too many things about the Labyrinth as well as Jareth's secrets and while Hoggle had never betrayed the Goblin King's confidence before, the dwarf's connection with Sarah had encouraged him to become dangerously defiant of his duties and obligations specifically to the Goblin King. And anyway, Jareth perceived with some private amusement that it might be good for the little worm to get away for a while. A century or two was a long time to go without a vacation.

"Now remember, Jareth. You be very nice to Murielle because she's been a very good friend to me for many years and she wants what is best for you." The Goblin king told the infant using his new namesake after he'd finished eating and had a burp. "And don't give Hoghead too much trouble if you can possibly help it. As much of a coward as he is, he does have something resembling noble qualities and he will attempt to do right by you in spite of his many failings. You don't know it now, but I greatly suspect you might even come to thank him someday for his many willing sacrifices and knowings."

Jareth preceded then to bounce Toby lightly upon his knee as he went quiet now and looked out into the room as if he was seeing something in his minds eye that was distant and mildly discouraging. Some bargains much like some promises, were hard to keep. But Jareth had never wavered before in his commitments and he wasn't about to start now even if the potential price for his loyalty was destined to be costly.

-

While things were going on in the castle Sarah Williams was still near the front of the entrance leading into the Labryinth watching Ramona, the woman who had found her, stomp around the scraggly shrubbery while she went to work plucking fluttering biting faeries directly out of the air. Her technique was most impressive and Ramona was easily able to collect two or three at a time in the grasp of one had while she swiftly picked off their large translucent wings with the other careful enough not to crush them as she went.

It was delicate work and Sarah's job was to follow the woman around toting Ramona's large basket for her and being ready with it when the gypsy wanted to deposit the contents of her fist into it quickly. The work was awkward for Sarah mostly because Ramona had a most peculiar way of abruptly stopping and going that took awhile for Sarah to predict and anticipate if prediction and anticipation was even really possible when it came to the peculiar nature of the red head.

"So, huh...Do you do this kind of thing a lot?" Sarah asked after a while. The silence was starting to make her think too much about her own anxieties.

"Ha, are you kidding? M'dear if I had it MY WAY I wouldn't deal with this stupid maze at all. It's an utter waste of my time on most days. But unfortunately there are somethings in this place better acquired by yourself and done the long way. I don't trust the goblin peddlers to give me a fair shake and there's certain stuff that simply needs to be gotten fresh if you want the best results and quality. Magic can have expiration dates too, ya know." Ramona said with some spirit.

"No. I mean, I guess I never thought about it much before now." She replied. "What do you actually do with this stuff after you collect it?"

Ramona paused thoughtfully before she went back to pulling wings and tossing away the irate screaming little bodies they'd come off of. "Well you've heard of fairy dust, right?"

Sarah blinked a moment. Really the only specific reference she could remember that described what fairy dust was, was in Peter Pan; and in truth all Sarah could really remember about it was the scene in the Disney film where Peter patted the fairy Tinkerbell unceremoniously on the butt so that Wendy and her brothers could properly learn how to fly. Though Sarah highly doubted the fairy dust Ramona was talking about really did the same kind of thing. Her experiences with Hoggle had already shown how little Sarah really knew about anything fairy tale like she had once thought she was educated with. "You could say something like that. Yes."

Ramona grunted obviously unimpressed by her ignorance.

"'_Fairy Dust_'...Is a polite term for what is essentially the powdered wings of Biting Faeries. The ingredient can be used as a kind of staple in basic goblin cooking though I find it more commonly used by cutting it in with pipe tobacco or added it to snuff for an extra kick. Snorting the powdered fairy wings on their own and in large amounts produces a drugging effect, not unlike that of opium, on magical creatures. In humans like you or say...Jareth, it works better as a sedative to ease mild to moderate aches and pains or as an ingredient in salves for healing and managing open wounds. If infused with the sugar of say..a nectar it takes on hallucinogenic qualities and is thought to make a person more suggestive to magical manipulation and intellectual persuasion." Ramona explained with sly thoughtfulness while she actually stopped her activities to scratch at her ankle which was presently propped up on the edge of one of the rectangular pool edges.

"Oh really..." Sarah said suspiciously. "And I suppose that would include peaches, right?"

"Well I did SAY nectar, didn't I?" Ramona rhetorically asked with a tinge of irritability putting down her foot and placing her hands on the enormous sides of her skirts while she looked hard at the teenager. "Why do you think I'm out here today? Jareth cleaned my out of the last of my supply and he did it at a most annoying hour of the night. If you ask me, there is only one reason worthy of ANY man waking a hard working woman up out of her warm bed in the near middle of the night and that reason should usually begin with loud rumpus noises of ecstasy and end with damp sheets and a noticeable limp in the morning."

"Right...Well I think Jareth might have used something like that on me last night. I was stupid to think eating or drinking anything in the middle of sparring with him was a good idea." Sarah muttered.

"Well...If it's any consolation, the effects can work both ways. If Jareth employed a trick like that then he was putting himself at just as much risk as he was putting you. Maybe even more so given who he is and what he's capable of." Ramona remarked after finally deciding she'd done enough work for the morning and lowered herself down next to Sarah on the edge of the fountain pool with some effort.

"How?" Sarah scrunched her nose slightly as she tried to puzzle out the logic of Ramona's reasoning.

"Sometimes illusions can be more real than reality can be. Truer yet, we tend to want what we dream about a fair deal more powerfully than what we actually have. We often take our dreams for granted that way and maybe where your from that doesn't usually amount to anything. But here in the Underground...and particularly in this place...ones inner most wishes, feelings, and dreams can become quite dangerous indeed. Jareth is particularly susceptible because...as I'm sure you've already seen...the crafting of believable illusions are one of his specialties." Ramona explained cryptically as she busied herself by sorting the wings in her basket into smaller individual bushels and binding them with twine so that she could more conveniently grind them in parts later.

"I guess your right. Though it seems to me that it was my dreams Jareth was trying to seduce me with and not his...I mean that dream or whatever that hallucination should be called was crafted after the princess on my guilded music box. Jareth obvious took stock of my belongings back home and used them as inspiration." she speculated.

Ramona hemmed. "Oh I see. But...Are you absolutely sure about that?"

Sarah blinked a few times. "Well, yeah. It's the only explanation. Right?"

"Ghuh. Don't ask me...I was just saying for the sake of conversation." Ramona muttered in that way older and wiser people did that suggested that they were really thinking something else entirely different and more probable but were trying to be polite about not pointing out the foolishness of others who were younger and less experienced than them. "None of my business anyway. Personally I'd rather not comment one way or the other."

"Well...I suppose it doesn't really matter now. I got myself out of it and Jareth didn't look like he was hurting too bad when he dumped me here." Sarah muttered resentfully. "What does someone like Jareth really want with a human baby anyway? I seriously hope he doesn't really intend to turn Toby into a goblin."

At Sarah's last sentence Ramona suddenly looked at her has if she'd said something ludicrous and started to chuckle in a low manner. "Where did you ever come up with a ridiculous notion like that?"

"What do you mean? Isn't that what happens to human children who get stolen away into fairyland?" Sarah inquired feeling her face start to turn red for being laughed at as if she had said something stupid.

"I suppose it would be possible for a child to be put under some kind of enchantment that turned them into something else if they were being stolen by someone. Though I can't think of what practical good it would do beyond masking the identity of the child from others. It's certainly not something I've ever heard Jareth do and even if he did he isn't the type to do horrible things to defenseless children. At best humans who end up in the Underground for prolonged periods of time usually unlock certain magical predispositions or talents. You might occasionally end up with an ability to shape shift, but I've never run into that particular trait in a human anyway. Besides from what I understand of how things work around here you'd almost have to make an ill-fated wish to be put in the position of having to run the Labyrinth. Though you seem like a nice enough girl...Maybe a little stupid...But nice enough." Ramona chuckled again and shook her head dismissing the thought out of hand.

At this Sarah was privately shamed into looking away and down. It was true that Jareth and his goblins hadn't stolen Toby per se. Rather, they'd taken him away from the William's house at Sarah's request and Sarah herself had ended up in the Underground by extension because, in an effort to undo her thoughtless vindictive actions, the Goblin King had taken pity upon her and given her a chance to win Toby back. Even if he'd cheated a little to keep his advantage it was still Sarah's fault somehow that Toby had been taken to begin with. The thought made her feel like crying again.

Luckily Ramona bounced suddenly onto her feet before Sarah got the chance. "Come on. I've got what I came for and I'm ready to head back. You don't have to come along if you don't want too but I wouldn't recommend it."

"No...I'll come. I'll come. I'd rather be in there than stuck out here and...I want to say thank you. You seem willing to help me and your one of the more rational beings I've come across since I got here." Sarah said with genuine gratitude as she hurried to stand and grasped Ramona's oversized basket in her hands.

"Rational! Me? Well that's a first..." Ramona muttered half under her breath before grabbing up her ladder and heading toward the place she'd come in from. This time the doors seemed to anticipate the sharp tongued gypsy's desires and opened up for her unasked.

Sarah didn't follow right away until Ramona turned around and said, "Well? Come on! We've sat around this dump long enough." 


	3. First Lessons

As it turned out Ramona didn't actually live in the Labyrinth proper. Rather she seemed to live directly along its western border where the wall bisected a part of what Ramona referred to as the Forrest of Enchantment or, the enchanted forest, as it was more informally called. Apparently when Sarah had originally encountered the intellectual door knockers she'd actually stumbled across one of the many exits leading out of the Labyrinth and had, upon entering through the door, momentarily left the relative safety of the Labyrinth's enchantment and Jareth's influence.

"Wait, so what you're saying is I was technically out of bounds?" Sarah asked as she hurried to keep up with the whirlwind of a woman while she seemed to pick directions at random as they went along.

"That what I said, isn't it? You really need to learn how to listen." Ramona muttered under her breath. "What you have to realize about before is that you and Jareth were more or less playing a game. Knowing him the way I do I'm willing to bet he gave you some of the rules but not all of them and thus that a big reason you got yourself into so much trouble."

"Yeah." Sarah scoffed. "He's kind of a jerk like that."

Romona grunted. "Maybe. But from the sound of it you didn't exactly ask the right questions before you agreed to anything now did you. Hell, it sounds like you didn't ask any questions at all about any of it which I must say was highly insensible of you and REALLY REALLY stupid."

Yep. Ramona didn't know the meaning of the term restraint. Sarah's mouth opened as if she was about to pose an objection to this statement but then promptly closed it again.

"You're right." She suddenly conceded. "I guess there's a lot of things I would have done differently had I to do it all over again knowing what I know now."

"Yeah, well there's no going back now." The gypsy reminded her bleakly.

Ramona turned down another part of the path and disappeared briefly. "Ah ha! Finally! Here we are."

Hearing this Sarah hurried around the corner after her fear subconsciously that if she didn't stay close the Labyrinth might pull a dirty trick and separate them. Unlike Hoggle who could find her again without effort, Ramona was one that Sarah knew she needed to stick close to if she expected not to get lost anywhere that she didn't want to be.

What she came upon when she did turn the corner was the familiar sight of the intellectual door knockers who were apparently both muttering to themselves and exchanging suspicious glances as Romona stood in front of them with her torso slightly more forward than her hips and her hands on her hips looking somewhat menacing in her own Ramona-like way.

Sure enough as Sarah came upon the scene once again the Labyrinth wall closed off inexplicably behind her.

"About time you got yourself over here. These two would have liked nothing better to close off that wall before you got here just to be funny. But that wouldn't be polite, now **WOULD IT **boys?"

**"What! What did she say?" **The deaf door knocker who normally looked staunchly indifferent had a look of panic on his face as he strained to hear what Ramona was saying. In turn the other door knocker tried frantically to reply to one or both of them as he stole glances at his brother while still trying to keep at least one eye on Ramona who apparently scared the living crap out of both of them equally.

"First lesson, kid." Ramona muttered pointing at the door knocker with the ring in his mouth. "See that door knocker there? His door leads out of the Labyrinth and into the enchanted Forrest and the other one leads to wherever you ask for it to lead to."

"Huh...Well that would have been nice to know the first time arou..." Sarah began to grumble.

"Hey! Did you bother to ask? No? Then think about that reoccurring mistake you seem to like to make and pay attention. I'm not done with my lesson yet." Ramona said with sharp authority.

"Now most things in the Labyrinth have a trick to them, that's the first part of lesson one. For example if you ask a direct question while in the Labyrinth you will almost always get an honest or mostly honest answer in return. It's the almost honest bit that will screw you over. See those loyal to the Labyrinth's power are more or less honor bound to tell the truth but if you ask a question that has more than one possible correct answer it is the prerogative of the individual being asked to pick and choose the answer they want to give you. It seems to me _your_ main problem is going to be a lack of common sense in this department from what you've told me of you experiences so far at least." Ramona observed.

Sarah didn't comment.

"The second part of lesson one is that on the off chance a person like yourself happens to know about the trick there is a final failsafe in place to hopefully undermine the original point. Now...With this example prove to me you have a brain in your head and tell me what the failsafe is in this particular example." Ramona had set the challenge and now crossed her arms and popped her hip to wait for Sarah to prove herself.

At first Sarah only stared sightlessly with a wide eyed void expression on her face as her mind raced to produce an appropriate solution to her problem. Finally after a few seconds and a sudden flurry of rapid blinking when her conclusion finally began to manifest in her mind's eye Sarah became very pensive and began to move about slowly to observe and confirm her theory before she tried to express it.

"Well...You said that the first part of the rule was that there was a trick...And since these door knockers seem to be physically attached to the labyrinth itself then they logically must be part of the Labyrinth and are more likely than not to be loyal to its power. I shouldn't assume that's always the case but...I'll sort that problem out later. So first I have to know the trick and to know the trick, I have to ask the appropriate questions..."

"Which are what?" Ramona asked in a crisp fashion.

"Well...Let's look at this logically." Sarah began to reenact her original movements from the first time she'd come to this point.

"I Start walking in this direction see the doors and then suddenly the wall closes off behind me. So now it seems like there's only two other ways to go but knowing how the Labyrinth is that could be a convenient lie so the first question I would be smart to ask is if the door knockers can make the wall shift again. If the answer is 'yes' then I could technically decide to go a different way instead of knocking on one of the doors which might be wiser than walking through a random magical door blind. The last time I did that I landed myself in one of the stupid oubliettes and Hoggle had to save me." Sarah stood before the door knocker with the ring in his mouth and looked thoughtfully at him.

Apparently both door knockers were smart enough to stay quiet during this experiment though the deaf one's mouth quivered slightly while he tried to read Sarah's lips and follow along while the other pretended not to notice her standing right in front of him.

"The second question I'd ask would be where the doors led to...But from what you've already told me that wouldn't necessarily give me the answer I wanted to get. So the better question to ask would be if these doors individually led to anywhere in specific. The knockers would have no choice but to tell me then that one would lead to the enchanted Forrest and one would lead to more than one potential place. I'd also have to ask which one was which because under that form of questioning they wouldn't be obligated to specify the facts. Then finally instead of asking where the other door will lead me I should ask how do I get the door to lead to where I specifically want to go." Sarah puzzled out.

"Good...Now tell me what the failsafe is." Ramona said in a tone that suggested she was withholding her approval until Sarah proved she had the smarts to figure out the rest of it.

"Well..." Sarah didn't feel as confident about this part of her impromptu demonstration and at first was tempted to give up. But as she observed the door knockers individually a point of observation clicked on in her brain like a pull light. "If loyalists can't lie directly then it would be dangerous for them to answer any questions, right? That's why this door knocker on the right has his ring in his mouth. Even if I asked him the right question I'd have to pull the ring out of his mouth to hear the answer and although the other door knocker can speak the placement of his ring means he can't hear the question so even if he was willing to answer me I wouldn't be able to ask him any questions. God...I think I figured it out. I can't believe how obvious it is or how brilliant."

"Yeah, yeah. You're very smart. Now tell me how you'd get around it." Ramona ordered as she impatiently tapped her foot.

"If I needed to get somewhere specified I'd have to use the door on the left but the door knocker is deaf so I wouldn't be able to verbally tell him." Sarah reasoned.

"But maybe I don't have to just tell him...Maybe, instead...I can show him. He seems an intelligent fellow. He might not be able to hear but I bet he can read. Right? I mean. I am right, right?" She asked eagerly.

Ramona scoffed in mild disbelief and fetched something out of her girdle holding it open in front of her for Sarah to read. Apparently it was a narrow but long piece of parchment with the words RAMONA'S KITCHEN scrawled neatly in bold lettering across it.

"Ha! I_ was_ right." Sarah said feeling validated.

"Ha! And I'm impressed." Ramona said lightly.

Sarah smiled brightly. "You are? Why? Is it because I figured it out so fast?"

"No." Romona replied with an air of vexation. "I'm impressed you were able to figure it out at all under the circumstances. You haven't exactly demonstrated yourself to be very bright up until this point, ya know. But never mind that. The lesson is over and I'd like to go home. Hold this up for me so I can knock and here take the ladder for me while you're at it."

After that Ramona handed over her things and reclaimed her basket she then gave a glare at the deaf door knocker to ensure he was paying proper attention and waited for Sarah to get into proper position before she knocked. "Go on. Give him a verbal direction and hold up your sign, he might be deaf but that doesn't mean we should treat him like he is."

"Right...Of course we shouldn't." She nodded in complacent agreement. Sarah suspected that agreeing with the gypsy was the smartest thing she could do whenever possible. So in an exaggerated manner Sarah announced her request carful to speak slowly and enunciate. "WE...WANT...THE DOOR...TO TAKE...US...HERE. RA-MON-A's KITCH-EN."

Ramona coughed abruptly at Sarah and glared at her.

what? Oh...I mean...PLEASE." Sarah added onto the end.

"_**MADAME!**_ I Will have you know that I am _**DEAF**__**, NOT **__**BLIND**__**!**_ **YOU SHOULD SHOW MORE RESPECT FOR-"**

"Oh shut your trap and let us through!" Ramona ordered and she seized the ring and gave the door three good hard and fast raps.

The door instantly swung open and Ramona let Sarah through first before she let go of the ring and stomped through herself. For the briefest of seconds both women could year the deaf door knocker mutter in a loud incessant way about manners and ruddiness while the other knocker broke out is into muffled laughter at the way Ramona had handled herself and the other door knocker's ring. Had they been there to see they would have noticed how red in the cheeks the other door knocker got at the way Ramona had manhandled him.

"I think that deaf one has a bit of a crush on me." Ramona grumbled as Sarah turned around and found herself nose to nose with the gypsy who had seemed to come out of nowhere and started speaking.

Sarah hurriedly stepped backwards and almost bumped right into some hanging pots and pans. "Mind yourself. The door isn't always discriminating about where in my kitchen it precisely places you. But it's much more convenient than getting here the long way. That's why it takes much longer to go out than it does to get back. Now pull up a stool and have a seat I'll set you up with something to eat then I have to get to work."

Ramona kept a relatively neat and minimal kitchen. There was a cooking fire near one wall and pump basin along the other with a custom made credenza where the gypsy kept all of her immediate potions, cooking spices, and spare jars along with other cooking things. Most of her pots and pans hung from the ceiling and were made of either copper or iron and there were several bunches of dried plants present that were waiting for immediate use. The floors were made of baked clay tile that was shellacked to create a good seal between the tiles and the firmly packed dirt bellow them and the stone edges of the room had been sealed with black tar to insulate it and prevent any potential water damage.

The house itself was set up like a small cottage made up of three primary rooms (a kitchen, a parlor, and Ramona's bedroom) and also included two extensive store rooms that when combined where nearly as big as the three upper rooms combined. These store rooms were in the cellar and only the one for the cold goods were accessible directly from the inside. The other cellar was about six feet away from the main property which had been carved out of a natural rock formation ad was framed by large bent tree limbs that looked like they were giving the hovel a loose kind of hug.

As were all cellars the second cellar was mostly below ground and had been dug out under the base of one the mammoth trees that grew like willows with sap that seemed to sparkle like glitter when it dried. Ramona mostly dried plants in it and stored her bulk dry goods and chicken feed.

In the main house there was only one window to speak of near the thick front door and one had to open it entirely if they wanted to look out since the thick blown glass obstructed one's ability to make out anything other than strong light or very dark shadows. Ramona kept a sturdy wood bar across the door along with a few complex locks and there was a bell just outside for visitors and two rows of benches and a fire pit where Ramona would set up her pharmacy when she was expecting a larger than average number of injuries and maladies. There was always an influx of patients after a large skirmish had occurred and Ramona he'd spent a good portion of the previous night scurrying about on the fringes of the Goblin City handling the triage that was needed after Sarah Williams had fought her way through the streets and into the castle.

"For the time being I think you should stay here with me until I'm confident I can trust you to be out on your own without getting yourself into any trouble that you can't easily get yourself back out of again." Ramona said after she'd sat Sarah down at the long table in the middle of the kitchen and went about peeling a few potatoes to dice and then boil along with another pot to boil up some of the fresh eggs she'd collected before she set out early that morning. "You can sleep in her by the fire or out in the dry cellar if you want a bit more privacy and the chance to sleep a little later than I do. You'll find I do a fair amount of work in here and like to be well in my routine by five. Breakfast is promptly at seven and dinner is at five when I don't have cause to be away from home. You can eat when you like but if you want a cooked meal by me you'll come around at one of those times."

"Oh..And before I forget. Be mindful of what you use in that cabinet over there or anywhere else around here. Anything that isn't strictly labeled as salt and pepper could be dangerous to use in certain combinations and mindsets so be careful and don't touch anything unless I specifically tell you to. I also expect you're going to help me tomorrow. I ain't the judgmental type but I'm going to go through lots of supplies because of you over the next few days and I'll need help boiling bandages and bottling things when my follow-ups start to appear for further treatment." Ramona continued after she settled down next to Sarah and began cutting up her potatoes into a bowl so that they could be boiled for their lunch.

"Personally I think his Goblin-ness went a little too fair with rousing the goblin guards to attack you in the Goblin City but sometimes Jareth isn't good about handling surprises. He probably never thought you'd get as far as you did and got lazy about it. Typical man." She added.

"I guess it never occurred to me that there might be an aftermath to what happened. I suppose I just assumed Jareth would magically fix everything and it would all be like one of his illusions. Real one minute and a dream the next. I feel kind of bad at the thought that my friends and I might have actually hurt anybody." Sarah admitted pensively.

"Well if it's any consolation goblins are nearly impossible creatures to kill outright. Being passively magical and earth dwellers besides their bodies are pretty much the equivalent combination of rubber, iron, and grease. In general a good row is one of their favorite games and if they do get hurt they rarely take it personally. I have to worry about more common sense type things. Like ensuring that they know to eat something that could explode or poke their eyes out with the pointy objects Jareth gives some of them to carry. Most of my real nursing comes in the area of maternity because while goblins have a very low birth rate every now and again they join with something outside of their species that reproduce at a more normal and common rate." Ramona explained.

"Interesting. But why do you take care of the goblins? Shouldn't Jareth be looking out for their wellbeing instead? I mean...He IS the Goblin King."

"That he is." Ramona agreed in a dull fashion while she stood and brought the bowls she was using to the hot coals where her pots were sitting and dropped the potatoes into the boiling water. "But huh, I think sometime people have expectations regarding that title that aren't reflective of his legitimate responsibilities."

"What do you mean? He's a king who rules over goblins, isn't he? So doesn't that make him responsible for their wellbeing?"

"Jareth is the caretaker of the Castle beyond the Goblin City which doubles as his home and he _is _one of the appointed custodians of the Labyrinth in general. As such he has direct access to its magic and a deep understanding of it intricate workings which he can manipulate sometimes for his own purposes or tap into when he so chooses. But he doesn't rule over anyone in the way you're suggesting." Ramona corrected her while she bustled around the kitchen assembling plates and cups.

"The goblins still follow him though and seem to carry out his orders and Hoggle certainly seems to be one of his agents or was at least until he met me." Sarah challenged.

"That dwarf has his own reasons for doing what he does for Jareth as do most of us who have been known to do favors for him. It sounds to me like meeting you simple gave him back some much needed backbone and ethical responsibility. As a groundkeeper Hoggle's main alliances and rivalries has more to do with the Labyrinth and its various flora and fauna and much less to d0 with Jareth than you'd think. In fact I don't know that Jareth really asks very much of him directly...But then again it's none of my business and I don't really care to know what that groundskeeper or Jareth does in their free time or why." Ramona put down her dishes and set out two large shakers clearly labeled as salt and pepper and went to check on the potato and eggs.

While Ramona did this Sarah took some time to reflect back on some of the things both Jareth and Hoggle had said to her on her previous adventure before she'd ended up here. Hoggle for example had once implied that the only reason he did what Jareth told him to do was because he was a coward by nature and that Jareth had the uncanny ability to scare him presumably into doing things. And as for Jareth…Hadn't one of his final desperate pleas been that she allow him to rule her and fear him? Sarah knew there were implications to what Jareth had said to her but she couldn't bring herself to guess what they were. Some things were just beyond some fifteen-year-olds to understand or immediately grasp.

"Well I hope you like your eggs soft boiled. If not I can leave yours in the water for a bit longer." Ramona muttered.

"I've never had them that way but I'm sure they're just as good as when they're sunny side up." Sarah replied. Really Ramona could have cooked them any way she liked and Sarah would have eaten them regardless of what her preferred way might have been. By this point she was practically starved.

Ramona was just as hungry and in short order both women completely devoured all of the potatoes, six soft boiled eggs between them, several slices of buttered bread with a sharp flavorful cheese, and a bowl of strawberries with cream which Ramona had been saving special as a reward for successfully tolerating the Labyrinth for the day. All of this was consumed in under a quarter of an hour in relative silence with some strong root beer to wash it down with. The root beer wasn't quite what Sarah had expected it to be but it wasn't bad and it tasted remarkable when slightly heated with a tiny slab of butter melting in it.

"Tell me again," Ramona finally said when they had finished eating and because she couldn't remember if Sarah had told her already. " Who did you say you were with when you took the Goblin City?"

"A yeti called Ludo and a Labyrinth Knight by the name of Sir Didymus and of course Hoggle. Why do you ask?" Sarah inquired while she helped Ramona gather up their dishes.

"After I'm done with my work I'll take you to the knight if you want. Your yeti is probably roaming the Labyrinth by now and I don't know the maze well enough to find him efficiently but the bog isn't far from here and we're close enough to its smell that those wild hell hounds won't bother with us if we cut through part of the enchanted forest. We'll also eventually need to find you some more cloths. You're a bit broader in the hips and shoulders than I am and I'm hard on my cloths anyway." Ramona replied.

"That would be really great. I mean, thank you. Honestly I don't know what I would have done had we not run into each other." Sarah said sincerely.

"Yeah about that...Before we do anything else I think I should see to doing something about that hair of yours. Those damn faeries ratted it up pretty bad. I'll do what I can but honestly I think we might have to trim it a little bit." Ramona remarked coming around the stool to take a good hard look at what she was dealing with.

"Great. Everything else has radically changed...Why not this?" Sarah mumbled. What did she really care what her hair looked like now anyway? On the list of things she now had to worry about looking pretty wasn't exactly one of her top priorities anymore.

"Take it. Take it all." She said sarcastically. 


	4. Inconvenient Truths

Technically Jareth had confined Hoggle to the boundaries of the castle where he was expected to prepare for he and Toby's upcoming journey, but while Hoggle was genuinely afraid of what the Goblin King might be capable of even this new threat was not enough to keep the desire to see Sarah out of the dwarf's mind.

It was one thing that Hoggle had to leave and a part of him couldn't really disagree with Jareth's reasons for wanting the baby as far away from the goblins as possible despite that Hoggle resented having to go along with and leave his home for who knew how long. But it was quite another thing to expect Hoggle to uproot and abscond with the Williams baby without so much as a goodbye or word of where he was going.

Hoggle just couldn't bring himself to leave without knowing that his friend was all right and while Jareth had assured him that Sarah was with Ramona the thought of her well-being being entrusted to the mentally unstable and slightly disturbed gypsy was not comforting to him.

"Damn you, Jareth." The dwarf muttered as he finished digging through some of the various storage rooms in the castle and put aside the final bits he'd need with him to undertake the task Jareth was expecting of him. "You may get your way this last time but I ain't doing nothing else for you ever again and if yous think I'm saddling that baby with _YOUR_ namesake than yous got another thing coming!"

"Is that so, Hogbrain?" An omnipresent and all too familiar voice seemed to make itself known just then and when Hoggle turned his head to identify its physical source he instinctively jumped when he noticed Jareth had been watching him for an indeterminable amount of time from behind.

Instead of shrinking back like he was known to do in the past, the dwarf bravely puffed out his chest and held his ground with defiant determination. "That's right and I'll tell you another thing...I ain't doing nothing or going anywhere until I get to speak with Sarah. She deserves to know I ain't intentionally abandoning her or leaving the Labyrinth cause I want to."

Jareth who was leaning with his back against the wall some feet away with his arms crossed over his chest didn't immediately say anything and instead simply pressed his lips and stared at the dwarf in thoughtful deliberation.

"You know Hoggle...It occurs to me that perhaps I was being a little inconsiderate before when we spoke last. I mean after all this Sarah person is your friend and since I don't really care a wit about her there seems no point in trying to stop you from seeing her provided that you follow through with my other expectations. I'll even do you a favor and give you my blessing to tell her where your going and with whom, not that I have any delusions about the fact that you'd blatantly defy me if I swore you to secrecy anyway."

"You being nice? now there's a change." Hoggle grunted. "Who are you trying to fool? it must be yourself cause you know it ain't gunna be me."

"See now it's that kind of attitude that has always made it impossible for you and I to be friends." Jareth said in an airy indifferent fashion as he smiled at the dwarf. It seemed as if Jareth was in an almost friendly mood and given his past behavior this seemed highly disturbing on various levels to the dwarf who wasn't really sure what to make of suddenly being the recipient of his benevolent indulgence. With Jareth such things so easily disintegrated into insults and unbridled malice, particularly where the groundskeeper was concerned.

"Why are you really doing all this, Jareth?" Hoggle asked in a curious and guarded fashion as he glared sidelong at the Goblin King "You didn't have to go look'n fer trouble. Not like what your currently courting."

"You might be right about that, Hoghead. But nevertheless what is done is done. I can't undo the events that have now been initiated nor was I really the one to initiate them to begin with, as you are well aware. I am simply playing the hand I've been dealt to the house's favor and besides this business with that Williams girl has presented an opportunity to correct an old mistake I once made." Jareth answered honestly.

"What happened before wasn't your fault I can't believe that after all this time your still carrying on about it." The dwarf mumbled.

"You settle up with your mistakes in your own way and leave me to settle up in mine." Jareth remarked quietly with feigned indifference.

"Oh I will cause according to you it ain't like I get alot a choice in the matter, now do I?" Hoggle challenged.

Jareth simply shrugged causing the dwarf to sigh and turn his eyes back to his task.

"Nothing can ever bring Ramona's child back to life and your doing a disservice to her by letting her be responsible for Sarah when yous know perfectly well whom she looks like." Hoggle warned in a hooded fashion.

"Her physical resemblance to the person you are referring to is beside the point." This time Jareth's tone betrayed a hint of testiness.

"Right. you keep telling yourself that convenient lie but you know as well as I do how dangerous it is to have the both of them in the same place. It's almost as if your trying to wake the dark lady up or something..."

When Jareth didn't say anything Hoggle finally stole a glance up at him and swiftly grew alarmed as awareness blossomed within him like the sudden break of dawn.

"Gaw...You've got to be kidding me! Y..you can't do that, Jareth! She were a bitch on wheels before, and if she ever got loose again she'd probably destroy everything in her path just out of pure wrath. Yous knows about her nature better than anyone..."

"Do compose yourself, Hogwart." This time Jareth pushed off the wall and approached him in his more usual predatory fashion. "Do you think me so foolish as to not include a few tricks in my grand design along with some fail-safes? Forever is not as long as people like to think it is."

"You've done a lot o' selfish things in your time Jareth but this...This is beyond what I ever thought you were capable of." Hoggle said shaking his head in a forlorn fashion.

"I don't expect you to approve or even understand my motives but I do expect you to do what I ask. Like it or not you along with that baby are one of the fail-safes I have planned. "I should think you'd be grateful to be pulled out of retirement and back into proper service more truly befitting of your talents."

"So you think me raising up that baby will somehow make up fer the mistakes I made with you. Well, we got into some heavy scrapes once upon a time...But thing were different then and you've been stuck in the Labyrinth too long. Immortality never did sit well on the shoulders o' humans. You be living proof of that. Well since we're deciding to be so open and honest I might as well take the opportunity to say that once I go I hope to never see the likes of you again." The dwarf growled.

"Hoogle, if everything goes according to plan you just might get your wish. Now if you're intending to defy my wishes so that you can sneak off to see that infernal girl Sarah, then do it now and get back here quick. The baby has been feed and tended to and the ferry is being prepared to depart as we speak. From what I understand Ramona is taking the girl to see that intolerably knight so you might as well make it a proper reunion on your part." Jareth muttered with an ironic kind of quality to his voice.

-

After releasing Ludo back into the maze, with some reluctance Sir Didymus had returned to his post flanking the now destroyed foot bridge where the part of the maze wall butted up against the marshland and part of the enchanted forest that was within the Labyrinth's bounds. While it was true that the knight guarded over one of the entry points leading to the single entrance of the Goblin City, the reality of the matter was that almost no one ever came around anymore for Sir Didymus to screen. Now the hollow tree served only as a humble little home for the fox and the rest of his bravado and over enthusiasm was simply the aging fox's attempt to reclaim more glamorous and death defying times now long past.

Things had certainly changed in this part of the underground. It was hard to say for how long because in the Labyrinth the passage of time almost stopped entirely as if the entire maze was caught under some kind of spell. The main symptom of this oddity seemed to be one of forgetfulness and although the knight was well aware of who and what he was other details had become admittedly fuzzy.

Not all creatures in the Labyrinth were susceptible to this loss of distant memory but many preferred to feign as if they were in order to ensure that the hazy sheet of inactivity and stagnation remained. Sometimes one's desire for peace circumvented all other motivations.

Had Sarah Williams succeeded in her quest Sir Didymus would have happily returned to his normal duties with a few new friends in his back pocket and a well deserved feeling of accomplishment to boost his spirits for the foreseeable and in determinant future. But the anticlimactic way in which everything had been concluded and the Goblin King's seeming disregard for his supposed quarry after the fact had left a decidedly bitter taste in the fox's mouth and an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"What is to be done. I ask you Ambrosia, what is to be done?" The fox asked his sheep dog steed while the animal huffed in a sad laying position outside the hollow tree while Didymus stood nearby poking his scepter at the small fire he'd built to ward off the chill of a slight cool breeze that had appeared in the area in spite of it nearing the peak of the day.

Just when it started to looked as if the knight was to be doomed to languish once more in obscurity, a familiar sight came hobbling swiftly over the hill across the bog with his jewels bobbing and chinking at his side. The dwarf looked as if he was in a hurry and when he caught sight of Didymus's fire he made one final push with on hand pressed over his nose to trudge across the bog careful to step only where the rocks had submerged so that he could meet the fox wide eyed and out of breath.

"DAMN." Hoggle growled. Apart of him had been hoping the fox would have taken it upon himself to defy orders and gone looking for Sarah. The dwarf knew there wouldn't be enough time to hunt her down if she was on the move especially if Sarah was traveling around with that red headed nut job of a gypsy. Usually Hoggle was more sympathetic of the woman but it still galled him to think that Jareth considered her a better candidate to teach Sarah anything than he was.

"Why Sir Knight, what is thou doing here?" Sir Didymus muttered in an inquiring fashion when Hoggle came tromping up from the edge of the bog to meet him. "Is something amiss?"

"Amiss! Yous can say that again. That idiot Jareth is out of his head and worst of all he's roped me into something I's can't get out of. Look, I ain't got a lot of time...I needs you to do something important fer me. I's have a good reason to suspect Sarah's eventually gunna come this way again. I needs you to give her these and this and don't tell nobody else about it. Ya hear?" Hoggle said.

The dwarf then went about removing his pouch of what he called his Jewels along with a stained envelop from inside his vest that was thick and weighted down by something inside of it, he then handed all of it over to the fox.

"Fine, fine." Said the knight in something of a confused fashion. "But...Pray, tell. Why don't you just give them to her yourself?"

"Gawh...Cause I'm going away for awhile and it can't be helped so I need you to do it!" Hoggle growled nearly screeching out his words in frustration. "Look, it's all in that letter. If you wanna know ask Sarah about it later and whatever you do Didymus you keep that girl away from that castle. Ya here me? Jareth is up to something dangerous in there and fer safety sake you gotta promise me to help keep Jareth away from her. Sure he claims to not want anything to do with Sarah but I ain't taken no chances. She looks too much like a certain somebody and I aint about to take Jareth's word about that being a coincidence as fact." Hoggle muttered

"Very well. you have my word on my honor as a knight of the Labyrinth. I shall guard these items with my life and do my best to protect the good lady. But what of you? Where are you going?" Didymus asked lightly.

"I'm going out of the Labyrinth and into the Craglands with the baby. It sounds like we'll be going the cavern way, safer and easier than traveling on the surface." Hoggle replied in low tones to mask what he was saying.

"Indeed. I wonder why he's sending the child there..." Didymus mused.

"Mostly to avoid the pitfalls of this place no doubt, plus he's got a friend there. If it were just the matter of the goblins he were worried about I'd understand more, but there's somethin else motivating him that I can't quite figure. Or rather what I been figuring don't make much sense." Hoggle shook his head. "I don't like it but I gotta get back. Jareth will have my balls if I postpone his plans. I be counting on you, Didymus. Do your best if not fer me than fer Sarah. She's our friend and we're the closest thing she's got to family now."

After his parting remarks Hoggle forced himself to turn around and march back the way he'd came leaving a perturbed though vigilant fox in his wake. While the knight didn't seem the likeliest creature for the dwarf to rely on, he knew deep down that he was doing then right thing. He also had to believe that if he left his most beloved belongings in Sarah's care Hoggle would have an excuse to get them back from her someday and hopefully have the opportunity to explain himself.

Getting back through the Goblin City and into the castle was easy for the dwarf. In a similar but different way than Jareth, Hoggle was also intimately connected to the Labyrinth's power and aware of how aspects of it's magic worked. As the recognized groundskeeper of the Labyrinth the dwarf pretty much had license to go wherever he wanted within reason though there were still places he could be barred from and, unlike Jareth who could literally think himself wherever he wanted to be, Hoggle had to get there on foot instead of by magic most of the time. As for getting into the castle the business was a simple matter as knowing the right place to lay down something that could pass for a door like a broken piece of crate and when Hoggle would lift it back up it would be like walking down into a cellar.

As much as there were many wonders and interesting places on the surface level of the maze, below the surface was an assortment of endless passages, oubliettes, treasuries, and gnome hovels. Most of these underground areas were not very deep nor did most of them connect to the castle. But the castle itself was a different story.

Besides the fact that Jareth had more or less turned the castle into a fun house of illusion, the truth was that much of his efforts were to mask the castle's true features which included the extensive catacombs and store rooms that existed deep bellow its surface as will as various enchanted rooms that had been present long before Jareth's time. But perhaps most importantly the castle's roots served as a dock point for the aqueducts and the dark waters that flowed deep beneath the surrounding yellow and red baked ground of the dessert lands that seemed to endlessly surround the Labyrinth and enchanted forest.

There had been a time long ago when the labyrinth was surrounded by a sea of salt water but at some point in the course of the natural shifts of the greater ecology of the Underground, the sea had eventually dried up leaving a distant wasteland of cracked and baked earth that had once been the water's floor. With the exception of the enchanted Forrest, which operated according to it's own unique magical rules, a big reason that the Labyrinth itself was so sparsely populated was because very few people (magical or otherwise) had the inclination or the wherewithal to bother crossing the wastelands and those that did end up settling in or near the labyrinth or the Goblin City had usually stumbled onto it because of the Enchanted Forrest or by other magical means.

Besides crossing the dessert or getting oneself entangled with magic there was one more less well known way for people to travel between several significant points across the baked dessert. It was a little known fact that the aqueducts that existed deep bellow the great castle were connected to a greater water system; one that spanned in various capacities across the Underground and well beyond the boundaries of the Labyrinth. It was Jareth's intention to use this largely secret means to send Hoggle and the baby into the waiting hands of his friend in the Craglands. The ferry was enchanted to take it's riders by the safest route to wherever the fee payer asked. This meant that Jareth would have the final say since Hoggle didn't have much need to carry coins, silver or otherwise, on his person and wouldn't be able to bribe the ferryman to take them elsewhere once they'd left the boundaries of the Goblin Kingdom.

Hoggle knew his way by instinct. Being part goblin and dwarf afforded him a natural understanding of the tunnels and passageway although he did not have much of an affinity for being below ground in general unless it was confined to the relative comfort of his personal dug out hovel.

After making his way down to one of the lowest points of the castle the structural interior of cut stone eventually gave way to cavernous tunnels that opened into much grander display of wide open space that glittered in the dim light. Light that seemed to come from nowhere. Much of the space was accented with naturally forming limestone columns and drapes, stalagmites and stalactites, as well as beautiful glittering flowstone formations. The sound of dripping water reverberated through the cavern and the entire place smelled of sweet water and minerals. As Hoggle moved deeper into the cavern he could sense the gentle ebbing of inky water working against a limestone lip where he knew the ferry waited for him with the shrouded and obscured visage of the ferryman waiting in silence.

Hoggle could also hear the gurgling of the Williams baby along with the unlikely sound of Jareth cooing at him and muttering reassuring phrases in a melodic sing-song manner. Had the dwarf not utterly disliked the Goblin King and what he stood for in that particular instance he might have actually found this uncharacteristic example of Jareth's humanity to be endearing.

"Ah Hoggle," It seemed that the Williams baby had the most interesting ability to put the usually cantankerous Goblin King into a state of unusually good form. "So glad you could join us finally. were you able to connect up with your friends? I would so hate for you to resent me for not getting to say goodbye."

"I took care of meh business." The dwarf muttered in a guarded fashion as he inched towards Jareth while still keeping well out of arms reach. Hoggle was unaccustomed to Jareth's more accommodating attitudes and didn't know how he was supposed to react to them.

"Good. that means we can commence with you taking care of mine. Everything you put together earlier has been packed. I'm also sending two of my most loyal Hobgoblins with you to act as your servants and helpers." Jareth informed him. "Come along now. Don't keep Hoggle waiting."

At Jareth's coaxing something that had at first looked like a dirty crumpled rag stirred slowly to life at Jareth's feet and peeked her large goblin eyes and fluffy pink hair out from around the side of the Goblin King's boot. Likewise another figure that came up to about the height of Hoggle's chest shuffled towards them from out of the shadows dressed in light weight black goblin armor and a face obscuring helmet that had blunted protrusions forming out of it like a jack.

"Officer Flick rrehporting for duty, Sir!" The 'R' rolling beady voiced small goblin guard stood before Hoggle and saluted him while the other hobgoblin watched in meek shyness with weary eyes.

"Erm...At ease?" Hoggle offered for lack of anything better to say.

"Thank you, Captian!" The guard said with gusto.

Hoggle then peered tentatively up at Jareth who was watching the goblin with a masked expression that hinted and a kind of patriarchal pride for the short peppy gaurd. Sometimes it was suprising to realize just how truly attached Jareth was to many of his Goblins despite his own humanness. This was one of the reasons many of the goblins followed him in spite of Jareth not really owning any true dominion over the creatures.

"So it's to be captain, now is it?" Hoggle inquired gruffly.

"Consider it a promotion for what you did in the Goblin City. You technically were a first lieutenant once upon a time, if I recall." Jareth said lightly.

"Guh...But I was on Sarah's side during that fight. Why would you reward me for betraying you?" The dwarf asked in a sickly confused manner.

"You don't have any real loyalty to me, Hoghead. As such you are entitled to pick and choose your battles and real loyalties as you like even at my expense. Regardless of sides, you showed exemplary leadership and bravery during the battle in the Goblin City that went well beyond what is generally natural to your character. You also came to the defense of an innocent caught up at an exceedingly unfair and dangerous disadvantage. Did you think such acts would go unnoticed and unrewarded?" Jareth asked in a rhetorical manner. "In spite of my own nature I _am_ capable of being _generous_ and anyway I've always supported the notion of giving proper credit where credit is due."

Jareth signaled for Flick to take the mumbling baby from his arms so that the goblin could secure him in the boat. The Goblin King was still gazing at Hoggle and looking as if he wanted to say something more when Jareth's acute attention was suddenly drawn to the other hobgoblin still standing at his feet as she tried to stifle a sniffle.

Something softened in Jareth as if he was recounting something tender in his mind's eye as he gently knelt down and picked the little creature up in his hands and placed her so that she was eye level with him. the goblin's oversized eyes were pooling with unshod tears as she sniffled into a tiny little scrap of rag which she was apparently using like a hankie.

"I dun want to go, Master Jareth." The little hobgoblin said in a forlorn manner.

"Oh...Don't be afraid, my little Tilly-whim. I promise it will not be forever. But you see Hoggle there? he needs you to help him and so do I. The baby needs a mother figure and I know no better choice than you for that job. Please help me, Tilly. No more tears now...There's nothing to fear." Jareth smiled warmly at the little goblin that was practically smaller than Toby and, after cradling her in the crook of one arm, took her tiny handkerchief and used it to blot at her eyes for her. "There's my lovely girl."

Tilly-whim hid her face in the crease of Jareth's elbow. "I love you, Master Jareth. And...I'll be brave if you say so."

"I'm glad. Get along now." Jareth set the hobgoblin gently down and watched her scurry onto the boat and hide behind the basket Toby had been securely placed in.

"The ferryman will ensure you arrive at your destination before nightfall. there are supplies for the baby in its basket. I'm counting on you, Hoghead. Take care of that child and do not fail me." Jareth implored him.


End file.
